


Sunspots in Winter

by Rooks_and_orchids (Sam_and_Dean_come_whatever)



Category: Victoria (TV)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, F/M, Vicbourne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:09:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21762757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sam_and_Dean_come_whatever/pseuds/Rooks_and_orchids
Summary: A little ficlet for day 12 of the Vicbourne Advent Calendar!I've been tossing the premise for this around in my head for quite some time now, and theres no better time to finally give it form than during the holiday season! This is actually my very first fanfic outside of an occasional drabble and i'm so thrilled to share it with all of you in this wonderful fandom.EDIT: fixed the repeating paragraphs (that’s what I get for pasting the damn thing without checking it first!)
Relationships: William Lamb 2nd Viscount Melbourne/Victoria of the United Kingdom (1819-1901)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	Sunspots in Winter

Victoria rose from where she sat with a heavy sigh, her back and bottom sore from sitting with the dispatches all morning. Were it not for the snow falling steadily outside, and the company she presently kept, she may have considered abandoning the task altogether. Now at last, the business was done.

“I’m afraid, Lord M, that the dispatch box will provide us with no more entertainment today.” Victoria said with mock disappointment as she arranged the last of the papers. Lord M let out the slightest laugh in agreement.

“A poor source of amusement as always, Ma’am, but you persisted most admirably. In fact, I daresay you’ve earned a bit of a reprieve.”

Instantly, Victoria perked up. “In that case Lord M, if you don’t mind, I will retire to my drawing room, it is too drafty in here by far. I desire to watch the snow but I should like to do so by the fire, and with your company of course!” 

How relished every singular moment spent together with her dear Lord M. Even during days like this, encumbered largely by matters of state, she still found ample opportunity to indulge in his presence. She would hang on his every word, seek out his gaze, and tuck them away safely in her bosom for later.

Victoria crossed in front of the desk and stood in the middle of the room to where the winter sun poured in through a window. After a brief moment of reveling in the warmth, she spun around on her heels to face him and smiled broadly.She had hoped to see compliance in her companions handsome face. Instead, she found Lord Melbourne looking at her with intent eyes, his brows arched in...was that...surprise? Surely she had not suggested something beyond the bounds of propriety. It was not so unusual for her to receive him in one of her private chambers. 

In fact Lord Melbourne was looking at her now, caught entirely off guard by how lovely the young queen was. Her nose was touched pink from the chill in the air, and her scarlet gown made the white of her skin seem even paler. The sun caught high on her cheekbones and particles of dust danced around her in the light. She was the very picture of beauty and Lord Melbourne was doomed.

Victoria ventured to take several steps toward him, fearing she had upset him somehow when Lord M cleared his throat and bowed his head ever so slightly before offering in his usual affable manner:

“Of course, Ma’am. The snow will have made conditions less than suitable for travel. So it seems that I remain at your disposal. Shall we go?”

For a moment Victoria shone even more brightly than before. 

“Yes, Lord M, lets”

  
  
  


It was an unusually quiet day in Buckingham House. As they made their way to the drawing room Victoria noted that she couldn’t hear the bustling of servants nor the blithe chatter of her ladies. The only sounds now were of the snow falling gently against the window panes and Lord Melbourne walking beside her. Yet, it seemed as though all of the holiday preparations had been made, the halls were decked most splendidly with garlands of evergreens fastened with crimson ribbons and the scent of meadowsweet hung pleasantly in the air. Once they reached the drawing room Victoria immediately situated herself on a plush settee by the fireplace.The room was already perfectly warm as Lord Alfred had been in, and stoked the fire well in advance. Lord M had only barely entertained the thought of taking the seat next to Victoria before his legs carried him over to the bench beneath the window. 

“I do so enjoy this time of year Lord M. Even if one cannot venture out in the snow, one can still appreciate it perfectly well from inside!” 

“Indeed Ma’am, during my days at Eton I would often traipse about in the snow with my schoolmates but these days I fear my constitution would not allow it. Better for old men like me to stay inside than risk catching a chill” He teased.

“Hush Lord M!” Victoria laughed, “I will not have you speak this way about yourself, you are not at all-- _ oh! _ ” looking up at him, she gasped, unable to finish the thought. 

“Not at all... _ oh _ ?” he queried.

“Lord M you mustn’t move, the way the light is hitting you now is simply perfect! Stay very still, I have to fetch my pad and watercolours!” 

“Why, whatever for?” 

“Whatever for? Why, to paint you of course Lord M!” Victoria beamed.

Lord M sat frozen as Victoria picked up her skirts and bounded out of the room. It was not that his sovereign had commanded him to remain still that he sat there, unmoving. Instead it was the weight behind Victoria’s words that held him to his spot. Silently, Lord Melbourne chastised himself for the warmth he felt blooming once again in his chest. 

‘ _ Come now, this is not the time to delude yourself by fancying yourself Her Majesty’s muse. She’d just as soon paint a portrait of Dash!’  _

He sighed aloud, propped his arm up on the windowsill, and rested his chin in his hand while he stared out across the endless white landscape. Briefly, he let his mind wander and envisioned a world in which he  _ could _ perhaps be more than Victoria’s friend and confidante. One where he might be her companion. It was selfish (if not treasonous) he understood, even to indulge these thoughts... and yet it was near Christmas...perhaps this year he would gift that simple fantasy to himself.

When he hears Dash barking Lord M is instantly broken from his trance, grateful that he had no time to unwrap, as it were, his foolish present to himself. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye he sees a whirl of skirts and paper enter the room. Victoria had returned triumphantly with her supplies and dear old Dash at her heels. The young monarch was flushed and visibly out of breath but still, Victoria smiled impishly.

Lord Melbourne raised his eyebrows in amusement.

“Seeing as there is scarcely a soul around, Dash and I decided to take full advantage of the empty corridors by having a race on our way back.” 

“Is that so Ma’am? And who should I congratulate as the winner?” 

“You may congratulate your Queen.” Melbourne smiled and began to rise so that he might bow in congratulations but was stopped abruptly by Victoria who raised her hand in protest.

"Lord M, I need you to stay right where you are if I am to properly capture your likeness." She spoke 

"Forgive me ma'am but I think I ought to look quite the same no matter where I sit. And if I may, perhaps Dash would be a more favourable subject?"

"You don't understand" she huffed "the lighting is perfect there and you look so very handsome in it...I would hate to miss such an opportunity-to forget you in this moment." 

Victoria realized too late just what she had said but even as the color blossomed on Lord Melbourne's cheeks he did not avert his gaze.

"How you flatter me Ma'am." He spoke plainly and with such measured composure that Victoria considered whether or not she should be infuriated by it. Instead she made note of how he wrung his hands in his lap. A telltale sign, she had learned over their time together, that he was at odds with himself. 

She was cautious now in the wake of her confession but still she offered weakly, in that beguiling way of hers "Are you not susceptible to such flattery Lord M?" 

“You know I am… Ma’am.” 

Could she  _ truly _ not see how profoundly she affects him? Melbourne hates himself for giving her any reason to doubt that he...that he what? That he is indeed like all men, quite susceptible to flattery? Or that he sustains himself on moments like these; these lapses in decorum where her true feelings for him shine through? No, he cannot tell her as much. He can only smile and outstretch his arms in mock defeat.

"How shall I arrange myself for this portrait Ma'am?"

Victoria bit her lip to stifle the joyful laughter that threatened to bubble out. "Ahem...I think, Lord M that I should like to paint you in profile. Perhaps a two thirds angle. Yes, that will do nicely! Now kindly prop your arm up as you had it, you look most pensive this way"

"Excellent, I should hate to be immortalized as a thoughtless man. Though, my Tory colleagues would have it so."

Victoria could not contain her laughter this time "Oh Lord M, you are incorrigible! If you continue to make me laugh I will get nothing done!"

"My sincerest apologies Ma'am."

For a long while they sat together in silence, Victoria at her easel set up in front of the settee and Lord Melbourne seated at the window bench showered in diffused sunlight. Dash lay happily at Melbourne's feet, a detail that Victoria regretted was not within the frame of her canvas. The portrait was coming along rather nicely (in the humble opinion of the Queen) the garlands framing the window brought out the green in Lord Melbourne's eyes and the light played most excellently along the slope of his nose and the cut of his jaw. Her brush followed the contour of his cheekbones and the soft dark curls of his hair. Victoria thought that surely there was never a man living who was so handsome as her Lord M. Looking at him now, her heart threatened to burst out of her chest. 

Lord M noted that the sound of the brush on canvas had stopped

"Has the inspiration left you Ma'am?" He teased.

Victoria put down her brush and stood abruptly. ' _Quite the opposite actually'_ she cannot bring herself to say. Suddenly and painfully Lord M seemed too far away, sitting in front of her canvas was not enough. Victoria crossed halfway to Melbourne with her hands clasped tightly in front of her. Sensing that something was amiss he rose to meet her in the center of the drawing room, despite the scolding he might get for moving. 

"Lord M I-" she looked up into his kind eyes and then out to the window trying desperately to still her heart, to subdue her emotions "-I'm afraid i've taken too long and the lighting has changed. Will you pose for me again tomorrow?" She knows this is a lie, and Melbourne suspects as much since the two of them stood square in the middle of the sunspot pouring in from the window. 

Lord M looked down at her fondly, and became suddenly aware of how very flushed the young Queen's cheeks were. 

"Of course I...is everything alright, Ma'am?" He reached down and took her small hands in his own. 

"It is just as you once told me Lord M. No painting could ever do _you_ justice. But I think the likeness is near enough that it will make a suitable present for Christmas" 

"Ma'am?"

"I've wracked my brain terribly this last month and still I could not conceive of a proper Christmas gift for you Lord M." Victoria confessed " For Christmas this year, I wish for you to see for yourself...just how it is that I see you...I thought perhaps I could capture it in a painting but I know now that it will not suffice"

"How you see me Ma'am?" He immediately chided himself for asking, for hearing the answer would no doubt crumble his resolve.

"Is it not so plain to see? Lord M, please do not mock me. You must know how much you mean to me...you _must_." Victoria pulled her hands from his grasp and placed them firmly upon his breast. She feels the heat there under her palms for a moment before daring to look up to read his face. 

Lord Melbourne clenched his jaw tightly, he swallowed hard but he could not break away from her. They are too close to now and he knows it. 

"I should hope, Ma'am that you think of me as your friend."

Victoria flinched at the word, but the sting is soothed when Lord M cups her face in his hand. 

"There is precious little in this world that has brought me true happiness, but you Ma'am have given me more joy than I thought life would ever allow me. This alone is an irreplaceable gift." 

Victoria felt tears prickling at her eyes. ' _How kind he is'_ , she thought. _'How gentle and sweet my dearest Lord M is. How I wish to show him now more than ever how dear he is to me.'_

" Then Lord M, will you allow me to give you one more gift today?" she said, gently leaning into his touch

"The painting Ma'am? But it is not yet finished. And Christmas is a week away-" He is stopped mid sentence by a pair of lips; plush, sweet, and sure over his own.

Lord Melbourne cannot help but inhale sharply in response, surely this was not real. No, he must still be sitting gazing out the window indulging in his foolish private fantasy. And yet, there she is, but a hairs breadth away waiting for him to respond.

" I think you know now how much you mean to me." Victoria whispered against his lips. The last remaining bit of reason within Lord Melbourne crumbles and is carried away by the winter wind.

" God help me, Victoria-" He rasps before bringing his head down to meet her lips once more. He cups her face tenderly in both of his hands and kisses her until she is out of breath and once again near tears. 

" Victoria" he whispers "my sweet girl, my love" 

" Oh Lord M! How long I have wished for this" Victoria cried 

Lord Melbourne held her tightly "To think that both of us should desire the same thing for Christmas" 

"Do you mean to suggest that you did not wish for this at any other time of year?" Victoria teased.

Through his laughter Lord M managed to respond "I do confess Ma'am that I have" 

"Well then Lord M, we would do well to make up for lost time" 

"A fine idea indeed Ma'am, a fine idea indeed."


End file.
